On March 29, 2026 (Sunday) at 3:00 AM, we switch to daylight saving time. Then we have to move the hands of the clocks forward by one hour, and thus we will sleep less. The change is in connection with a decision of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union from March 19, 2001. We will return to astronomical time again on October 25, 2026.
Who invented daylight saving time?
Benjamin Franklin, the first US ambassador to France, jokingly proposed daylight saving time to make fun of the "lazy" French. In 1784, he wrote a satirical letter to the "Paris Gazette", in which he suggested that clocks be moved forward in summer so that citizens could get up earlier and see more daylight. He also demanded a tax on window shutters, rationing of candles, and a wake-up signal delivered by artillery fire.
More than a century later, in 1895, New Zealand astronomer and naturalist George Hudson proposed the same idea for purely selfish reasons. He wanted the extra light in the summer to help him study insects.
In 1907, English builder, golfer and horology (time measurement) enthusiast William Willett also suggested this, after one morning he was traveling early and noticed the closed windows and drawn curtains while people were sleeping in the beautiful summer dawn.
A year later, on July 1, 1908, after a local businessman named John Hewitson petitioned the local council, the residents of Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada, received permission to move their clocks forward by one hour to enjoy longer and brighter evenings. Other Canadian cities soon followed.
More gloomy motives, however, led Germany to adopt daylight saving time on April 30, 1916. Increasing daylight in the summer provided more efficient operation of the military machine. In addition, the amount of fuel used for indoor lighting was reduced, which increased supplies for the army.
The following month, Britain followed suit. In fact, Parliament had been discussing the idea since 1909, although the changes were strongly opposed by farmers who wanted brighter summer mornings to do their work in, rather than longer and brighter evenings. Eventually, in 1925, daylight saving time was declared permanent on the Island in recognition of the fact that waking hours do not coincide with the seasonal duration of the day.
How long will this last?
In 2018, the European Union launched an initiative to decide whether to continue changing the clock or to stick to just one time. Most countries took a position to stop changing the clock because of the negative effects on the body. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the discussions were stopped.
In order to stop changing the time, EU countries must synchronize their choices and there must be a consensus on which time will be permanently adopted. Several countries around the world have already abandoned the change of time, among them Turkey, Russia, Peru.
The reason for rejecting the change is that our biological clock needs adaptation and sometimes this takes one to two weeks. During this time, many people feel fatigue, headache, distraction, fatigue and other unpleasant effects on the body.
Daylight saving time this year will remain in effect until October 24, and on the night of October 25, 2026, we return to astronomical time, when the clocks are turned back 1 hour.